NYC Top Comedy Choices for Wednesday 11/5/14

Want to be on an NBC prime time show?America’s Got Talent is holding NYC auditions; details here.

TV Alert: Jim Gaffigan and Bette Midler are on Jimmy Fallon;
John Cleese in on Jon Stewart;
Bob Newhart and Melissa Rauch are on Craig Ferguson;
Rob Riggle is on David Letterman;
Howie Mandel and Deepak Chopra are on Conan O’Brien;
Howie Mandel is on Ellen DeGeneres;
Bridget Everett, Jeff Ross, and Hari Kondabolu are on @midnight

Tonight’s recommendations for the best in New York City comedy (in chronological order, with top picks noted and shows over $12 marked with $) include:

[TOP PICK] [$] (11/5-11/9) The New York Comedy Festival features some of the best stand-ups in the world performing headlining sets in such major NYC venues as Carnegie Hall, Town Hall, the Beacon, the NYU Skirball Center, Carolines, and The Stand during November 5-9. Among the stars performing this year are Amy Schumer, Maria Bamford, Marc Maron, Bill Cosby, Bill Burr, Bill Maher, Pete Holmes, Tig Notaro, Dave Hill, Kurt Metzger, Mark Normand, Hannibal Buress, Sasheer Zamata, Aparna Nancherla, Eric Andre, Sommore, Paula Poundstone, and Dane Cook; plus there’ll be interviews with such giants as Jim Gaffigan, and the teams creating TV series Inside Amy Schumer (including Amy),Broad City (including Executive Producer Amy Poehler), and the writers of The Late Show with David Letterman. To explore the entire schedule, please click New York Comedy Festival

[TOP PICK] 7:00 pm ($5): Mike Birbiglia’s Dream is both a reference to Mike’s hit play & film Sleepwalk With Me, and to the group of improvisors he’s gathered being a “dream team” for making up scenes springboarding off his stories. Tonight at UCB Chelsea Mike spins tales for SNL’s Mike O’Brien, Chris Gethard, Tami Sagher, and/or more: Mike Birbiglia’s Dream

[TOP PICK] [$] 7:00 pm ($15 at the door or online): Storyteller Martin Dockery spins “a wild, surrealistic tale of an epic reunion between mother and child” at Under St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place, off First Avenue): The Dark Fantastic

7:30 pm ($5): Expanding the UCB longform improv showcased on Harold Night is this weekly show at UCB East which tonight features house groups Witch, Boombox, and Rizzo: Lloyd Night

[MEGA-TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($12 at door, $15.30 in advance online): For the seventh year of this fabulous annual event, dozens of NYC comics get two minutes each to do a set as a famous comedian. This 2014 edition is slated to include impersonations of Maria Bamford, Bill Burr, Aziz Ansari, Ellen DeGeneres, George Carlin, Bob Newhart, Mitch Hedberg, Kathy Griffin, Richard Lewis, Whoopi Goldberg, Woody Allen, and many more. It all takes place at Brooklyn’s Littlefield (622 Degraw Street) hosted by Matt Ruby & Mark Normand: The 7th Annual Schtick or Treat

[TOP PICK] 8:00 pm ($5): Brilliant Saturday Night Live writer & performer Mike O’Brien “performs solo sketch and stand-up, reads a short story, and in general, does things. Come out to see experimental comedy as well as comedy that involves no experimentation” at UCB Chelsea: Mike O’Brien: 30 Minutes of Things…

…and in the other half of this great double-bill, “In 2010, Kristen Bartlett’s and Jason Gore’s dads died within months of each other. Kristen and Jason formed a grief-fighting force that is often tough, but occasionally falls apart when Big Fish is on HBO. This is a sketch show about what it’s like to lose a parent and realize that you are going to die too, and there’s nothing you can do about it. (But it’s funny, we swear.): The Dead Dads Club

[TOP PICK] [$] 9:00 pm ($15 at the door or online): Superb storytellers Jim O’Grady, Jeff Simmermon, Cyndi Freeman, Brad Lawrence, and Amy Pascale (author of Joss Whedon: The Biography) tells tales about “people who inspire them: historical figures, family members & ancestors, mentors, or that guy that your friend told you about. These are tales of legendary individuals, well known and unknown, the awesome people who make us want to be more awesome” at Under St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place, off First Avenue) hosted by Cyndi Freeman & Brad Lawrence: Awesome People

[TOP PICK] 9:15 pm ($5): The instructors of UCB’s classes include some of the finest improvisors in the country. In this new weekly show a bunch of them get on stage at UCB East, along with hosts Betsy Stover and Ari Voukydis: Hot for Teacher: The UCB Faculty Show

[FREE] 10:00 pm: NYC stand-ups do sets “and then have a discussion about what’s going on in the world and the mysteries of life” at The Creek upstairs theatre in Queens’ Long Island City, hosted by Chris Laker: The Show

[TOP PICK] 10:15 pm ($5): Stellar improvisors Charlie Todd & Kevin Hines provide color commentary on improv sets by other top improvisors at UCB East for this monthly event: Play by Play

[TOP PICK] 11:00 pm ($5): Leslie Meisel & Kate Riley chose UCB comics to write sketches for the opposite sex, then cast and directed the scripts. Tonight’s show is the result of this fun experiment at the UCB Chelsea theatre: He Said, She Said: A Sketch Show

[FREE] 6:00 pm: Open mic stand-up show that provides each performer whose name is pulled from a bucket 5 minutes on stage at The Creek downstairs lounge in Queens’ Long Island City hosted by Kaity Neagle & Irene Hartmann: Ragtag Team Open Mic Stand-Up

6:00 pm (no cover, 1 drink min. for both comics and audience members): Open mic stand-up providing 5-7 minutes per comic, running 2 1/2 hours. Arrive 30 minutes before the show to get on the signup sheet. This is a fine opportunity to perform at the only comedy club in the East Village: Eastville Comedy Club Open Mic

10:15 pm ($5): Randomly selected UCBT students perform with UCBT improv veterans at the UCB East theatre: The Lottery

[FREE] 11:00 pm: Open mic stand-up running until 1:00 am, with time divided evenly between performers (up to five minutes), at The Creek downstairs lounge in Queens’ Long Island City with host Rob Stern: Bucket ‘O Buckets

11:00 pm ($3): Open mic stand-up show, with its 90 minutes split evenly among the comics who throw their names into a bucket, at The PIT downstairs lounge hosted by Eagle Witt: Amateur Night At The Mercury

From legendary NYC comedy site Brooklyn Vegan: Thank God for Hy Bender’s religiously updated show bible BestNewYorkComedy.com. He is literally the only person in NYC providing daily summaries of what’s happening comedy-wise. It must be exhausting keeping that monster of a website alive…It is your daily comedy itinerary and it scares me how on top of his shit this guy is.

Please feel encouraged to reach out to tell me about comedy shows, hire me for book or screenplay work, or for any other reason by emailing me at hy@hyreviews.com.